London is not only the capital of the nation, but also a global metropolis for culture and the arts. From world-class academia to museums, video games to fashion, the city is teeming with energy and fresh ideas. And so today, Sadiq Khan pledged to “turbo charge” the capital’s creative economy if re-elected, saying he will help bring a £3 billion boost to the sector by 2028.
Given the number of other issues affecting Londoners — not least crime, transport and the cost of living — the arts are sometimes forced to take a back seat. They shouldn’t. A report last year from City Hall found that one in five jobs in the capital were in the creative sector, which in 2019 contributed £55 billion to London’s economy. This is no accident, and the creative industries need careful support. Politicians, both at a local and national level, must not take the capital and its leading status for granted. Instead of levelling down, both Labour and the Conservatives ought to double down on the city which underpins the influence Britain has on the world.
Met’s complex jigsaw
Knife crime in the capital is surging. The most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics find a22 per cent jump to the end of last September, with 14,000 offences. This represents the second-highest annual tally in London over the past decade. Yet at the same time, the number of weapons seized from the streets has fallen by a third in less than two years, with the number of stop and searches aimed at finding these weapons also falling sharply.
Matt Twist, Met Assistant Commissioner, has warned that opportunities are being missed because officers feared “the potential repercussions for themselves or their family” if they were subject to a public complaint.
The Standard supports the intelligence-led use of stop and search as one piece of a complex jigsaw to drive knives off our streets. For this to work, however, the public must have confidence in the police, and the police in the systems of accountability. In both cases, we are falling short.
Tips to avoid an upset
It is the usual theatre at the end of a meal. The bill arrives, diners check to see if the service charge is included, someone gets out their iPhone calculator and payment is made. Except, now it’s getting even more complicated.
Dim sum chain Ping Pong has ditched its service charge only to introduce a (thus far optional) 15 per cent management fee — months before legislation will make it illegal for restaurants to keep tips from their employees.
Customers are almost always happy to pay a little extra for service staff, but management fees sound like a rip-off. Those unhappy ought to vote with their feet — and stomachs.
